Please withhold your support of the Bush/Kennedy/McCain Immigration Bill.

The bill is Amnesty. Despite protestations to the contrary, any bill that offers a path to citizenship and opens the coffers of the US Treasury to those who entered this country illegally is AMNESTY.

Any legislation legitimizing illegals already here MUST give them NOTHING MORE than the status of legal presence. Benefits designed for US CITIZENS should not be extended to those who crashed our borders... EVER. There should be no path to citizenship EVER for one who has violated our sovereign borders. We must offer them decriminalization only. If we must, we can allow them to stay without fear of deportation (ONLY so long as they register, work to support themselves, and commit no crimes. Deportation should be automatic for any illegal immigrant who fails in any of these regards.) The legislation must SPECIFY: No citizenship. No right to vote. No Federal Benefits of ANY kind (no welfare, no food stamps, no Medicare, no Social Security… EVER). And there should be NO GUEST WORKER provisions. The current visa system allows adequate "guest workers" under the H1B and other programs. This need not be expanded. The proposed bill gives away the farm, to the tune of 2 TRILLION DOLLARS according to Heritage Foundation.

The bill is a backroom deal brokered between a small group of Senators, the President and the Hispanic Pressure Groups. There have been no committee hearings. There has been no open debate. The text of the bill in its entirety is unavailable to the press for research or commentary. There is a rush to pass the bill without discussion. The provisions which HAVE been leaked are unnacceptable.

This bill does not address the ANCHOR BABY issue. It does not end chain migration. In fact it invites ADDITIONAL chain migration. It is a sellout.

There is a grassroots movement afoot (which I support) to withhold casting any vote for any Senator supporting this bill. This would include contested primaries, and general elections. This is an issue which crosses party lines, socio-economic class, etc - and is considered by many to be their single most important issue. This bill WILL become a litmus test of suitability to serve in and re-electability to the US Senate.

Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator and a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice. His work is also seen on News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, New Media Journal, Capitol Hill Coffee House etc. For the support of his family, however, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business. He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College.

Rosemary LaBonte of Orange County, CA recently sent a letter to the editor of the Orange County Register. It was not published as it did not fit the paper’s position on illegal immigration. Her husband, David, then determined that the letter merited broad distribution and readership – so he has enlisted the minions of cyberspace to “publish” the letter across the net. Now it is being read far and wide, and well beyond the sphere of influence of the regional newspaper, the Orange County Register!

You may find Rosemary LaBonte’s treatise to be extraordinarily sensible and lucid. As such, you may wish to share it with others – thereby furthering David LaBonte’s purpose in enlisting the help of cyber-netizens!

Presented for your edification:

New Immigrants

From: "David LaBonte"

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet.

Pass it along if you feel so inclined. (signed) Dave LaBonte

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people. When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.